Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-09-08
BOY PIiEACHER.
The Ten Year old Phenomenon of JEFF
ferson County.

ferson County.
The Cincinnati Commercials Indian.
apOlis correspondent thus refers to q
marvellous prodigy and phenomenon in
jefferson county, Indiana:
In Jefferson county, not far from
Madison, they have q church and
quite q congregation. The pastor OF
i the church, or rather the preacher, is a
boy of ten years Of age, and is truly q
wonder. When out of the pulpit he
has a sort of far-away simple and listless
look and manner. His clothing is lily
cut and poorly made, and of the cheap
est material, and, with his preoccupied
look gives him the appearance of pre-
maturely aged child.
His hair is thick, coarse and uncomb-
ed. In the chrnch he-sits on one of the
front benches, his feet about six inches
from the floor and swinging in regular
school-boy style. No observer, no mat.
ter how attentive he might be, would
ever take him for anything more than an
ordinary country boy. Uninteresting
and really stupid as he appears, he has q
marvellous and almost inspired concep'
ton of words and ideas, or memory
that is equally marvellous, for he preach
es sermons that Beecher in his palmiest
days might have been proud of. Fol
purity of diction, logical arrangement
and beautiful SMILES they are unsur.
passed by any pulpit orator of the pres.
ent day, either in this country or in Eu.
rope. Neither by act, word or look does
he convey the impression that he is pos.
sessed with the idea that he has done
anything extraordinary even after one
of his loftiest flights.
There is about him something so
earnest, 80 simple and so childlike that
the listener, as he breaches or prays,
feels kind of electric thrill, creeping
of the flesh and tingling at the roots
of the hair. Last Sunday he preached
from the fourth verse of the sixty-third
chapter of Isaiah: "For the day OF
vengeance is in my heart, and the year
of my redeemed is Gomez His father,
who is an illiterate man, being scarcely
able to read, opened the service by
reading the chapter from which the
text was taken, the boy meanwhile sit
ting on the front seat swinging his legs,
and apparently unmindful of what was
going on around him. When the faith
er concluded his reading he nodded to
the boy, who arose and assembled the
pulpit. His feet had scarcely touched
the pulpit before wonderful change
came over him. His listlessness was
gone, and in its place was an enthusias-
tic earnestness seldom found even
among the most devoted ministers. He
knelt down and led the congregation in
prayer. ....
There was a depth, earnestness,
pathos and entreaty in that prayer that
made it wonderful even beyond the
marvellous sermon which followed it.
The prayer concluded with the follow
ing words. spoken in tone of earnest
pathos that reached the hearts of the
hearers, if it did not the throne of the
God to whom it was addressed: "Oh,
Father, look in mercy and love on the
sick and afflicted; oh, Lord, regard with
sympathy and kindness the poor and
afflicted; oh, Father and "Lord look
with special favor and tender compass
sion upon the young who are here to-
day."
His prayer ended, he took his place at
the desk, his eyes fairly in flames from
his communication with his Master
and without hesitation or embarrass'
ment, and in clear but deeply earnest
voice, proceeded to elucidate his text
1 cannot give even synopsis of the
sermon, but it was clear, logical, forci.
BILE and in some respects unique. In
closing he claimed that the last of the
prophecies were now being fulfilled and
the day of Judgment was approaching.
He referred to the prophecy as to the
time of the end of the world, that chill
dren should raise against their parents,
and parents against their children, and
said that at no period of the worlds
history was that more true than to-day,
when every paper was loaded down
with accounts of parents being MUIR
dered by their children, and children
by their parents. .-.'
I cannot say that the sermon was his
own composition. The language and
ideas were too exalted for child of his
tender years, but even if it was the
work of another, his feat of memory in
reproducing it and the evolutionary
powers displayed were something un-
canny. He is prodigy whichever way
it is taken, and his equal does not exist
anywhere in the United States.
| If the sermon was his own he Is to
sermoning what Blind Tom is to music.
indianapolis has some able divines, but
not one of them can produce such a
sermon as that delivered last Sunday by
Pascal Porter, the boy preacher Of
Jefferson county.
His parents and friends claim that he
was inspired when but two years OF
age, and that since then he has been de.
| livnrinn hic rama rly ahla addrassna tn
he memories them it is strange where
he finds the originals, and who teaches
him. His sole companion is an aged
grandmother, who, like Lois of old,
gives all her time to her Bible and
to prayer. These two spend their days
in reading the Scriptures and in talk
ing of the mercies of the Lord. Cincin-
natl has sect who claim to have God
with them in the person of one of their
members The Soul Sleepers of Jefer.
| u. e II Il. aV~s.